Anime Review!

Horimiya

A not-so-typical shojo anime about Miyamura-kun finding his place with Hori-san and her friends.

This has to be one of my favorite shows in a while and I enjoyed it, but there are some things that I take an issue with. Let's just jump right on in!

My rating: 9 out of 10.
Crunchyroll rating: 4.9 out of 5.

Rating breakdown:
Overall: 9 out of 10
Plot Potential: 10 out of 10
Plot Development: 8 out of 10
Characters: 9 out of 10
Animation Quality: 9 out of 10

First off, I just feel like I have to say this: Miyamura is cute. 

Now that that's out of the way, time for a brief overview!

Please note: There will be spoilers! If you haven't watched the anime or read the manga, I suggest you do that before reading further. Also, I am trying to keep this just about the anime. My review of the manga will be coming soon, so please keep any and all comments here about the anime.

The show starts off showing us Miyamura in all his gloomy glory and Hori with her own struggles. I appreciate this part, because there is a big difference between how Miyamura portrays himself at school and then in public. Hori doesn't have a very big difference, but she still does. After all, at home, she doesn't wear makeup and has messy hair while she cares for the house and her brother while her parents are gone. 

It's sheer chance that he actually ends up at her house, a fact he himself reflects on later in the shows. However, that little twist of fate that brought them together leads to them becoming first friends and then a couple that's so attached, they don't want to let go of this piece of happiness they found that has become incredibly dear to them both. 

Around episode 4, when Miyamura finally confesses, I start taking some issue with the direction of the anime and how far it deviates from the manga. The show still kind of makes sense even though a lot of what you need to know to keep it making sense is only in the manga, but as it progresses, you get the general idea. Which, I suppose, is good enough, though I would have preferred having 12 episodes and then a movie or two if it meant showing everything that happens in the manga, but I digress.

Anyway, they slowly come to realize in the course of the first three episodes that there's feelings there, and Miyamura confesses in a very casual way when Hori is sick. In between telling her he told Ishikawa she's sick and letting her know there's some Pocari in the fridge, he tells her he likes her and has for a while now. He walks out the room, leaving Hori questioning why he told her and whether he actually said what she thinks he said. 

After some misunderstandings (let's be honest - you can't have a shojo without at least one of them every few episodes, or one that gets dragged out the entire season), Hori starts to confess to Miyamura, but gets interrupted when her dad comes home randomly. After some funny and mildly annoying bits, he finally asks Hori if the kid there is her boyfriend, to which she says he is. 

Thus begins their dating life. 

Several things happen afterwards - some sweet, some funny, some annoying - and then the show turns to focus more on the other characters. Ishikawa and Yuki pretending to date and Kouno believing it to the point she breaks down crying and even collapses in front of Sengoku; Yanagi confessing to Yuki but having it hinted at that he takes an interest in her sister instead; Sengoku and Remi and how they got together and then the bug drama.

At one point, Miyamura runs into his former bully and I refuse to remember his name because he bullied him. He tries to bully him again, but Hori ends up putting a stop to it, which carries over. Eventually, he does try talking to Miyamura again and they end up becoming friendly. I still refuse to remember his name. 

Anyway, this concludes with one of the sweetest ending monologues I've seen in a while. Miyamura is so taken with Hori and it's very evident. I love it.

By the time the show ends, unless you've read the manga, there's things that don't make sense. Like the bunnies, for one. That's one of the things you'll need to read the manga to actually get it. Then there's a couple of statements Miyamura makes in the final episode when he's recapping to his old self things about the time since he met Hori. 

The main one that sticks out for me is when he says they all know about his piercings and tattoos. That statement, even though you may not notice it because he is disturbingly talking to another Miyamura lurking in the shadows, really doesn't make sense when you think about what's happened on the show so far. There isn't anything where he could possibly reveal his tatts to other people except when he stripped his shirt off for Hori and Ishikawa. Unless something hilarious happened and we just missed the entire thing, there's no reason in the line of the story for him to say that.

Overall, though, I really like this show and the manga even more so. I recommend reading the manga to fill the gaps the anime leaves, and I recommend the anime for fans of the manga because they do a really good job at bringing the story to life. They may leave out parts, but it's worth it.

Arrigato for reading and hanging out. Mata ne!